Conversations with Changemakers: Zahra Faye

From The Gambia to Ghana, preserving African craftsmanship and curating local creativity

Zahra Faye was born in The Gambia, but her family moved to the UK. She felt increasingly alienated there, and felt pulled to move back to Africa. At that time, Ghana’s arts, design, and startup scenes were gaining influence worldwide, so she decided that was the place to be. She became involved in cultivating local craftspeople and curating art, with her most recent exhibit Threads of Identity: Layers of Meaning exploring the narratives woven into each textile, revealing stories of resilience, identity, and belonging. Virtual Realities/Urban Navigations: Exploring Self in the Digital Era opening April 26th, 2024, showcases work by Gandor Collins and Kwabena Fordjour that merge Collins’ exploration of humanity’s relationship with technology and Fordjour’s vibrant depictions of Ghanaian transportation culture.

Shara Karasic: I was just looking at your Instagram. You’ve been so busy!

Zahra Faye: Yes, I've been so busy. It's great, right? It's been very interesting. I feel like everything is moving really fast, but I'm just glad I'm enjoying it because I get bored so quickly. So I'm quite glad that there's so much novelty all the time, a lot of newness, whether it's new art, new artists, new venues to look out for.

Shara Karasic: Tell me about yourself in a couple of sentences.

Zahra Faye: I would say I'm a woman who has multiple interests that vary across industries. But my main love has to do with the preservation of African heritage, as well as how we commune with nature.

Shara Karasic: How do you find Ghana?

Zahra Faye: I really, really enjoy being in Ghana because I feel like I've been growing quite a lot. My personal development, I think, has been on an upward trajectory since I've been in Ghana. There are some cultural nuances. There're still things I'm getting used to, although I've been in Ghana almost six years now. But it's somewhere that feels like it could be home, definitely.

Shara Karasic: What’s an example of a cultural nuance you’ve encountered?

Zahra Faye: Things like greeting from a certain side. Or, I was under the impression that for funerals everyone wears black, but I think if it's a child you're supposed to wear white. So some of those things we don't have back home in The Gambia. Although there are similarities between Gambians and Ghanaians, there're still some differences. So I’ve had to get used to those and keep learning the culture, and learning what makes them feel respected. It's just interesting that I've been here for quite some time and I'm still learning.

Shara Karasic: Yes! I am just at the start of that journey. I remember the last time I was in Ghana, I was in the car with my son's Ghanaian uncle and someone called him on speakerphone and he said, I'm here in the car with my wife and son. And I was like, I'm his wife? Oh my God. But I guess that was just an affectionate term. In the U.S., people would never say that unless it was actually your wife! And your nephew is your nephew, not your son.

Zahra Faye: Exactly. Those are the things I mean, those little things.

Shara Karasic: So you're involved in the crafts world in Ghana and the arts world in Ghana. So let’s talk about Karara Official. What led you to launch Karara and focus on traditional crafts?

Zahra Faye: I naturally have an interest in natural things, be it like natural handmade products, or natural skincare products. Just as long as something is handmade, I'm just very drawn to it. So when I got to Ghana, because I hadn't been on the continent for maybe thirteen years, there was so much novelty for me. I felt very much like a huge tourist. So I kept traveling to different regions. And what I found most interesting was how people were able to create objects with such intricacy. And they were all made by hand, a true labor of love. I became so impressed with every region that I visited. And I thought, the only thing is they don't have a platform, a global platform to be able to showcase some of these products. And that's where the inspiration for Karara came from.

Shara Karasic: So are the younger generations learning how to make these crafts?

Zahra Faye: We have the younger generation learning from the older generation. Some of these crafts have been passed down matrilineally for millennia. Making these crafts have been a way in which they've been able to feed their families. They've been able to sustain themselves. Many of the craftspeople are women. They come, they sit under a tree, the basket weavers, for example, and they have their babies with them. And that's how some of their children learn, by going to work with their mom.

Shara Karasic: How internet savvy are the crafts makers? Are any of them selling their products online or do they mostly sell in the local markets?

Zahra Faye: They mostly sell in the local markets. I do know a few people in Bolgatanga who market on their Instagram pages, but most of them still sell at the markets.

Shara Karasic: You've recently curated several different art exhibits. So tell me what you're doing with your art curation.

Zahra Faye: I feel like I'm focusing a little bit more on stories that have to do with our connection to nature, our connection to age-old tradition, our connection to our history, our stories. The Truth Unhidden exhibit in January was about African nature and sustainability and greenery, as well as landscape. I think for a long time, we've been told that landscape art or landscape paintings are more for Westerners as opposed to Africans. But we have artists like Betty Acquah who are painting beautiful landscapes, beautiful waterfalls in Ghana. I have been very busy with curating. I've had a show per month since the beginning of the year. And this month I'm having two exhibits!

Shara Karasic: I was looking at Virtual Realities/Urban Navigation: Exploring Self in the Digital Era. Those artists are amazing.

Zahra Faye: Yes, yes, they are. I'm so excited for that exhibition. Gandor Collins and Kwabena Fordjour - they're so good. Gandor explores the digital realm and human’s relationship to technology. He literally paints QR codes, and his detailing is quite incredible. And Kwabena's artistry and skill in painting transportation culture in Ghana— he's an art teacher, actually. I love the detail in his work and the quality of every piece. We have a private viewing on April 25th, and the main opening is on the 26th, at the Berj Art Gallery in Labone.

Shara Karasic: So you're doing all these different things. So do you have a typical day in your life or is every day different?

Zahra Faye: To be completely honest, I am trying to find more structure in my day. One of the things I struggle with is having so many interests. I am not as disciplined as I would like to be. So one of the reasons why I'm curating a lot is because I'm trying to find a focus. I feel like I have been putting maybe 20% of my energy into multiple different projects. So I haven't had a chance to make a name for myself in any of those industries. And so this year, I decided that maybe I don't have capacity to focus just on one thing, but I'll try and focus on art curation. So lately, what I've been doing is trying to be disciplined and structured with my day. But my days do look different, doing a lot of curation and exhibits. Some days I have studio visits with artists that will be exhibiting. Other days we're negotiating contracts with galleries and exhibition spaces. And I guess that's what I also enjoy about it.

Shara Karasic: And where do you see this curation, all these art exhibits, going in the next few years?

Zahra Faye: Well, I'd be very excited if I could do a Biennale. I'm also excited to exhibit Ghanaian artists outside of Ghana, to be a bit more global, to curate outside of Ghana. (There are other African countries that I'm very excited about, like Senegal, and since I'm Gambian, you know, Senegal is also home. Actually, my mom's hometown is Casamance in Senegal. So yes, I'm very excited about that. Maybe Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and LA, New York. I'm excited to exhibit, to curate worldwide. And there are also certain artists that I dream of doing curational work for, such as Victor Butler or El-Anatsui.

Shara Karasic: That would be great. And in terms of LA, please bring over more Ghanaian women artists, because I keep going to these shows that are wonderful, but the artists are all men.

Zahra Faye: I know, I know, that's the thing. A friend of mine who's also a curator, we've been discussing this. Even though we love the fact that male artists have been drawing African women, using African women as subjects a lot of the time, it would be very interesting, you know, for women to draw women, or for women to represent women, for African women to see what we look through an African woman’s lens. So with our last exhibit, we featured Nana Adjoa Turkson, who is with Noldor Artist Residency. And we are excited that she's been doing that, draws women's bodies, African women, the black woman. I'd be very excited to showcase artists like her in the U.S.

Shara Karasic: So there's been a lot of press here in the U.S. about everything that's going on in African countries, in the arts, design, fashion, music, media and tech. From your point of view, what worldwide trends are being spearheaded by West African youth?

Zahra Faye: I see a lot of influence in the fashion world. There's a lot of celebration of African heritage. Right now I think that's on fire. It's being celebrated through fabric such as kente. We see the NFL player Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, how his fashion is being well received. He's been voted GQ Sports Most Stylish NFL Player. And since 2020 and the George Floyd incident, we see a lot of younger African artists being given a platform. So as far as representation, I've been seeing that happen.

Shara Karasic: What are the top 1-3 things about West Africa that you would like the world to know more about?

Zahra Faye: This is going to be very random, but it's just been on my mind lately. It's been the notion of, you know, living in mud houses. So people here say all the time that, you know, we're Africans and Africa looks like this, we don't live in mud houses, we live in mansions and apartments. And I think one of the things people don't know about is how proud people are to actually live in these mud houses, because they work in harmony with their environment. And I see so much art in their design as well. I don't think people know just how proud Africans are to actually live in these vernacular buildings. They’re built in such a way where they stay cool during the day, and they keep you warm when they’re supposed to, keep you cool when they’re supposed to. They have lasted the test of time.

Another thing I would love people to know about West Africa, is the food, how incredible West African food is. I may be biased here.

And the third thing I would like the world to know more about in West Africa, I would like for them to encounter more artisanal items as well as African art. Not just pictorial art. I think there're amazing sculptural pieces and installations that aren't yet well recognized on a global scale.

Shara Karasic: It's interesting because when I go to Ghana, I see so many products that I never see here in the U.S. It seems like there are just certain very common items that are sold here. Certain kind of beaded bracelets that you see everywhere or certain baskets. But there are like 10,000 amazing things you see when you’re there. The iron gates are so fabulous. They're so expensive to ship out, so you don't really see them as much around the world unless people are very wealthy.

Zahra Faye: Yes, yes. And all these iron gates, and also the carved wooden doors.

Shara Karasic: And then in terms of the food, I find in a city like Los Angeles that doesn't have that many West Africans, there are a couple of restaurants that aren't that good. And then everybody kind of knows a lady who cooks and that's where they actually get the food from…

What's a favorite piece of creative work? A film, a book, an artwork, a piece of fashion.

Zahra Faye: My favorite piece of fashion is a bubu. It's a sort of loungewear. And for me, it spans beyond just being a piece of clothing. It's infused with meaning. I remember my great-grandmother in a bubu, my grandmother, my mother, my aunties. Whether you're like a super posh woman or you're house help, it's something that you wear and it has stood the test of time. It has so many stories.

It's also for a lot of people their form of lingerie, there're so many funny stories around it.

They're quite versatile. They can be worn outside and worn to great parties. I love the versatility of boo-boos.

Shara Karasic: I get this question a lot. I'll have an acquaintance who wants to travel to Ghana or somewhere in West Africa and they have five days. I mean, it's a ridiculously short amount of time, but what's a must-do for somebody who's visiting Ghana or West Africa?

Zahra Faye: You have to try the local food, like at a local chop bar.

And try Ghana nightlife! You know, you have to try to party till the sun comes out. That's also a must-do.

You can't say you've been to Ghana and you're just in Accra. You have to go out of town. I think Ghana has beautiful landscapes, so if you can make it out of Accra, you should probably do a canoe or boat ride. And the north is very different. It's a lot more rural. It's a lot less developed. You still find traditional values over there, because it's not as fast. You really see community there. I love that about the north.

Shara Karasic: And those mud homes that you were talking about, usually people paint designs on them, right?

Zahra Faye: Yes, on some of them. The first time I saw that was when I went to Sirugu. It's a woman's pottery village. And their mud houses are so beautiful. Some of them are unpainted, they just leave them. And they're also very beautiful. Simplicity has its own charm to it, you know. I think there's a pride that comes with being able to build your home with materials that come from nature, the environment around you. Maybe it's something not everyone cares about.But I think it's something that a lot of people over here do care about, and I care about that too.